Norwalk will no longer be able to receive state funds for housing or homelessness, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday, saying the city is violating state housing laws by banning homeless encampments.

The governor’s office added the city is losing its housing element certification, a plan that frames a city’s housing goals and needs. 

State officials also accused Norwalk of taking almost $29 million in funds for homelessness and housing even as it tries to prevent future homeless shelters and transitional housing. 

“Our Housing Accountability Unit provided the city clear guidance—with full transparency on what our next steps would be if they did not repeal this egregious ordinance. Instead of working to correct their missteps, they dug in their heels and are now ineligible for key funding and subject to the builder’s remedy,” said Gustavo Velasquez, the director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, in a statement. 

Norwalk has only built 175 of 5,034 units it is required to during this housing element cycle, which runs from 2021 until 2029, according to the governor’s office. 

Newsom wrote in a statement Thursday that every city, including Norwalk, must follow state housing laws. 

“After the state has provided cities and counties with unprecedented funding to address the homelessness crisis, it’s beyond cruel that Norwalk would ban the building of shelters while people are living on the city’s streets,” said Newsom. “This crisis is urgent, and we can’t afford to stand by as communities turn their backs on those in need.” 

In response, Norwalk Mayor Margarita Rios said in a statement that the city council’s decision preserves local control for land use while ensuring public safety.

“Our ordinance was specifically designed to protect residents by promoting responsible development,” said Rios. “However, our experience with housing programs, particularly Project Roomkey, which placed a substantial number of homeless individuals with high acuity needs, near homes, schools, and public spaces, has raised significant concerns.”

Project Roomkey is a federally funded program in California that placed many unhoused people in hotel and motel rooms.

She said that the city needs better communications with the state.

“We urgently need improved communication and collaboration from the state to address these issues; we must tackle this in a spirit of cooperation rather than under the threat of penalties,” said Rios.

Norwalk passed a 45-day emergency measure Aug. 6, pausing the creation of new shelters and other supportive housing. 

On Sept. 16, California issued a Notice of Violation, with Newsom threatening to sue the city in response to the ban.

But the next day, the Norwalk City Council voted to continue the ban for an additional 10 months and 15 days. 

A San Fernando Valley community is set to receive some 100 automated license plate readers to combat rising crime, Los Angeles officials announced Thursday.

LA City Councilmember John Lee said he has allocated $500,000 to have 100 readers, known as ALPRs, installed throughout his 12th Council District to help police identify and locate vehicles linked to crimes. 

“We’re standing on Rinaldi Street, which goes all the way through Council District 12, and has literally been a line that shows you where crimes are most likely to happen in my district,” Lee said. “Last year, (the Los Angeles Police Department’s) Devonshire Division reported that the homes and communities located north of this very street experienced a 103% increase in home burglaries.”

The license plate readers are being installed at various strategic locations in Lee’s northwestern San Fernando Valley district, generally mounted to light poles. When the cameras detect a plate that has been linked to crimes, police are automatically notified.

Mobile ALPRs are already installed in about 1,500 LAPD patrol cars, and there are about five dozen of the devices scattered around the city.

LAPD interim Chief Dominic Choi said the mobile units deployed in the department’s South Bureau have already helped “solve a number of murders.”

“This technology is crucial as we continue to explore innovative ways to combat crime,” Choi said Thursday. “Studies show that motor vehicles are involved nationally in about 75% of all crimes. Whether it’s robberies, whether it’s burglaries, whether it’s human trafficking, whether it’s murders, drive-by shootings — their mode of transportation is a vehicle. So it’s so important that we can get information quickly to investigate and solve these crimes and even prevent these crimes.”

Authorities noted that the readers are not being used to issue speeding tickets or other traffic citations, and they insisted that the information gathered by the plates is highly guarded. Critics of such programs have called such plate readers are an invasion of public privacy.

Lee said that since the effort began to install 100 readers in his district, they have already helped solve a pair of robberies.

A La Palma family who is desperate to find their missing mother has hired private investigators to join in their urgent search.

The family of Geetaben Patel also wanted to raise awareness about mental health after the matriarch of the family disappeared from their home a month ago on Sep. 2.

That afternoon, Patel, 58, is seen on security footage running out of the house on Del Sol Circle at approximately 2:14 p.m. She was barefoot in her pajamas and suffering a mental health episode, according to her family.

“She locked herself in the bathroom, really paranoid and scared,” Sagar Patel, 30, the son of the missing woman, described his mother’s behavior Labor Day weekend. “She thought people were trying to kill her, rape her.”

Patel said isolation during the pandemic caused mental issues for his mother, who takes medication for schizophrenia, but hasn’t been officially diagnosed with the disorder. Patel said that weekend, his mother had been off her medications for about four weeks.

“I don’t know if my mom heard the front door close, my car take off, but she ran after us or at me,” he said. “She left through the front door.”

Patel was last seen on a neighbor’s security camera hovering around a neighbor’s front yard near Santa Margarita Lane.

Patel said his mom once wandered off to a friend’s house but never disappeared like this.

Dr. Neel Doshi, who has not treated Patel, said wandering off is a common symptom of mental illness,  but it’s uncommon for mental health patients to disappear for this long.

“It’s an unfortunate reality that, you know, our loved ones who experience mental health issues, may need an outlet that they’re not currently able to find,” said Doshi, a psychiatrist with Kaiser Permanente Orange County. “They don’t have an outlet and for them, sometimes the only release may come from stepping away from their current situation.”

La Palma Police who have also been searching every day do not suspect foul play

“What makes it unusual is the fact that she’s been gone for about a month,” said Sgt. James Roche, a detective sergeant with La Palma Police. “She has no shoes, she didn’t bring her phone with her. Generally when people go missing voluntarily, they tend to turn up pretty quickly. That’s the part that makes it unusual. Quite frankly, we just don’t know where she is.”

Patel is pleading for everyone to help find his mother. He also wants to send a message to anyone else living with loved ones suffering from mental illness.

“In our family culturally, it’s not talked about as much. (It’s) frown upon,” said Patel. “Hopefully, this helps other families not have to go through what we’ve been through.”

“I hope you’re doing OK mom, I love you,” said Patel as he cried. “I just want you back.”